Isaac Woodman
T2 2025 - "Does everyone believe me now ?" Sebastian's powerful voice rang out over the congregation, his words and the tone in which he spoke forcing the room into a submissive silence as all eyes turned to him. The remnants of conversations stopped a few seconds later, as if they were children in a classroom, just now noticing the teacher looking at them. I saw some fidgeting in their seats, uncertainty keeping them scared, "As you have just been made aware, giant buildings of marble have erupted from the ground, these are the Theatres of which I speak. This is no longer a possibility anymore, this has now become an inevitability, the horrors that I have spoken of will become fact if you don't at least heed my guidance. You can choose whether to trust my words, make it out of this alive, or you can ignore my advice and warnings, the choice is yours." Sebastian's spiteful arrogance seemed to linger in the air, coating his words with a certain perceivable weight that didn't go unnoticed.
"What is he doing?" Levin asked, "I thought he was trying to get the world on his side, not vilify himself."
"I believe he is trying to prove to them that this is not a joke. I reckon that some of the people here and watching still believed that this was sort of a sick, elaborate hoax. Their phone calls expressed an unbelievable truth, and Sebastian is trying to capitalise on that fact."
"But he seems angry?"
"It may seem that way, and it may be true, but we can't do much about it, we have to trust that Sebastian knows what he is doing and saying."
"Shall we proceed on then?" Sebastian asked and was met with silence, "I will take that as a yes, ummm," he looked down at the lectern in front of him, skimming through the text, "next on the list is, Jasper, Jasper Falack." Sebastian looked up from the notes and scanned the room, seeing that no one stood, he looked back down at the paper. "No Jasper, ok, um, next on the list is-"
"I'm very sorry, my mind was in the gutter, I am here," Jasper stood and he looked much older than I would have guessed. He seemed to be in his sixties, but his immaculate suit and tie and his flowing white hair made him seem youthful despite his aged face. Stark sapphire eyes bore down on Sebastian and the gaze seemed to make him uncomfortable.
"So very good of you to make it here, now then, please go ahead and ask whatever question you would like and I will try my very best to answer you."
"Ahem," Jasper dug into his pocket, retrieving a notebook that was worn with overuse. His eyes seemingly brightened for a fleeting moment, and he closed his notebook. I looked at Sebastian briefly before looking back at the man, Sebastian hadn't noticed but I had. "Oh, I'm so very sorry, it seems that I haven't properly prepared any questions. I, I don't have anything to ask and my mind has gone blank. Please feel free to move on, I will let you know if I think of anything." Sebastian quirked an eyebrow.
"Are you sure you can't think of anything?"
"To be entirely honest, no. I'm not very good at thinking things up on the spot, it unfortunately has gotten worse with age," he chuckled to himself and Sebastian nodded.
"In that case we will move on, but please let one of the camera crew know if you think of anything."
"Will do, thank you." Jasper bowed his head and sat back in his seat, he tried to hide it, but I saw his smug smile. I don't know exactly what he had done, but as Sebastian resumed the Q&A, I searched through my memories, but they came up blank. I turned from the stage, leaving through the side door into the pouring rain. If I'm correct then I need to speak to Jasper, see what exactly that was. Let's just hope I'm being paranoid.
Sebastian Vassinari
I looked down at the sheets of paper on the lectern in front of me. Underneath the mess was the script that the being wanted me to say, with each answer to a question, I dreaded the end. I knew that it wanted me to speak these words, I just wasn't looking forward to the aftermath, but an idea came to mind.
"Sorry everyone, my throat is feeling a little dry, why don't we take a quick break and come back in about ten, maybe fifteen minutes. Those of you yet to ask your question, please think on what you would like to ask and we will carry on in a moment." Agreements went through the crowd. Those from large news stations instantly took out their phones, dialing contacts and others in the crowd started conversations with the person sitting next to them. I turned to leave the stage, but my legs wouldn't obey. Dread creeped its way through my body as my body turned back to face the lectern, my hands rifling through the sheets of paper to the script hidden beneath. It placed the paper on the top of the pile, its intent obvious. No, now is not the time, please, I will do it at the end, please, I thought to myself, pleadingly. I saw my finger tapping the oak top of the lectern and as my gaze fell on it, my fingers started to count down. 3, Please, I will, I will do it, 2, Don't do this here, please give me time, 1, Please. I choked aloud as I dropped to my knees, all eyes in the room turned to look at me, concerned.
"Sebastian, Are you ok?" the room around me darkened, did someone turn off the lights. Darkness covered my eyes with its fear inducing hand as the room vanished from view, replaced by an all encompassing nothingness.
"I gave you a chance."
Isaac Woodman
T2 2025 - I heard the commotion through the downpour around me, the words were muffled but the sudden outcries were suddenly silenced, putting me on edge. As I walked back inside, I heard Sebastian's voice, but it sounded robotic almost, as if it was someone else talking with his voice, and as I saw him, I stiffened.
"You all will die, things have changed, but the outcome will remain the same. The journey may have deviated course, but the ending had already been set in stone, nothing you do will change that. But you trying to fix that will just make the eventual end all the more…. Gratifying." Sebastian's voice rang out over the speakers and both Henry and Jacob looked on in horror, their faces were red and sweat dripped down their forehead. What the fuck is going on? What is he doing? I thought to myself as I walked past Levin. "Someone here is interfering with something that shouldn't have been interfered with, I will find you and when I do, then perhaps things will get back on track. Nothing is more annoying than someone deviating from the script." I walked forwards and froze. Sebastian's gaze was entirely blank, his eyes blinked occasionally but they didn't focus on anything in particular. Even his posture was off, he stood as if he was being held in place by invisible strings. I looked about the room, glancing at the guests who seemed to be frozen in place, their faces expressing terror. A cold shiver ran through my body as I advanced towards Sebastian, I had to do something, I had to get him to stop talking. "This latest theatre will tttttttttttttttttttttttttttttteeeeeeeeeeeee-" Sebastian froze, the syllables reverberating around the room in an indiscernible tone. What the ? I thought as the world became even more still.
"Interesting." The word seemingly came from every corner of the room and I spun trying to catch the location of the speaker. "Very Interesting," I spun again, still attempting to locate whoever was causing this insanity.
"What's interesting?" I asked without thinking, but as I tried to turn once more, I found myself locked in place. My eyes widened as I saw the world in front of me began to crack, originating from eight circular points, reminding me of a broken phone screen. The cracks that splintered away from the initial points grew long and jagged until my head started to burn with the contortion of the world that I knew. I tried to jump backwards as eight ruby spikes pushed through the origins of the cracks, causing the cracks to become even longer and thicker. The red tips extended further and further, almost reaching my body. They looked dangerous, their size and length reminding me of stalactites, but if they had been sanded down. Then all at once, the eight spikes tore the world away, leaving me standing in a tornado of shattered glass, each of which a part of the world that I had just left. I tried turning, finding myself freed from the invisible bondage. Beyond the swirling glass was darkness.
"If that frightened you then I apologize," the voice sounded beautiful, angelic almost, it was the kind of tone that would make anyone a believer in gods. "It wasn't my intention to do so, but I needed somewhere safe to speak to you." I turned, but all I saw was glass and darkness. "There is no use in trying to locate me, I have hidden myself as you will not be able to comprehend my true form. It was dangerous even letting you witness the splintering of your reality."
"Why am I here?" I asked, looking past the swirling glass. "What do you want from me?" I found it strangely calm here, and her words only calmed my nerves ever more.
"Oh, do I sound feminine to you, how incredibly peculiar," I stiffened.
"How?"
"Did you think I needed a mouth to speak to you? Humans are so particular." The voice paused for a long time, and as I was about to speak, she/ he/ it spoke first, "You need to listen to me and pay attention. Keep interfering, whenever you change the preconceived timeline, a ripple is created, the bigger the change the bigger the ripple. Your interference with the first trial, caused a tidal wave across time, leading them to be put on guard. You need to keep changing the past, that is what you must do to succeed."
"Who are you ?"
"I am merely here to give you a chance to avoid your eventual fate, so think of me as a mere helper."
"What is going on? Why are the Theatres here? What is their purpose? Why me?"
"I can't answer any of your questions, but perhaps I can, hmmm. No, too risky."
"What is? Those theatres are life and death, I can risk anything if it means we survive."
"Not risky for you, but for me. I will need to make preparations, but, hmmm, there is something I can do to help. Before you go back, I will tell you this, the theatre that you will enter, you will need to find its designer, that will disrupt time enough for me to speak to you again." The splinters stopped moving and then dragged back together, mending the world.
"Wait, how am I meant to find the designer?" I shouted back, but for the longest time, I heard no response.
"And let this event take place, someone else is interfering, let them, just make sure that they don't find you."
"Sssssssssssssssssssttttttttttttttttt you, good luck and I hope that you succeed, just remember that I am watching," Sebastian collapsed to the floor, coughing and spluttering, he looked pale and I tentatively walked towards him, my mind on the voice. Find the designer, how in the fuck am I supposed to do that?